Author Topic: Sony shows on GSN (Read 7940 times)

The Pyramids · « **on:** March 23, 2013, 12:31:09 PM »

Given the enduring popularity of \'Wheel of Fourtune\' and \'Jepopardy!\' is there a reason why the two shows have not been a more integral part of GSN\'s lineup over the years?

Chelsea Thrasher · « **Reply #1 on:** March 23, 2013, 12:44:27 PM »

Given the enduring popularity of \'Wheel of Fourtune\' and \'Jepopardy!\' is there a reason why the two shows have not been a more integral part of GSN\'s lineup over the years?

Jeopardy was on the schedule for the first ~16 years of the network\'s life, and occasionally since. Wheel\'s been on the schedule more often than it\'s been off. More than likely, it\'s the same reason that virtually any show doesn\'t air on virtually any network: return on investment. Someone has decided that the ratings (and thus, ad revenue) that broadcasting the shows would bring in isn\'t worth the cost to lease the episodes.

For the most recent period that J! was on the schedule, it\'s ratings ranged from decent to poor, with the show consistently losing ratings from it\'s lead-in (Super Password). The numbers were such that they replaced it with reruns of Woolery\'s version of Lingo, which had been off the schedule for a while.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #2 on:** March 23, 2013, 12:59:03 PM »

Don\'t we get enough WOF and J! on regular TV?

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #3 on:** March 23, 2013, 04:39:38 PM »

Don\'t we get enough WOF and J! on regular TV?

2/10. You can do better than that.

tvmitch · « **Reply #4 on:** March 24, 2013, 09:10:27 PM »

I have thought about this, but hadn\'t thought about the cost to lease the WoF and J! back catalog, which is probably precisely the reason it\'s not happening right now.

chad1m · « **Reply #5 on:** March 24, 2013, 10:39:24 PM »

I think it\'s relevant to the discussion, so for those not aware, the last time Wheel of Fortune was on the GSN schedule was a one-off Black Friday marathon in November 2010 of episodes from 2005-07. It did fairly well, popping a near-700,000 viewer rating for a mid-afternoon episode.

Kevin Prather · « **Reply #6 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:37:54 AM »

I think it\'s relevant to the discussion, so for those not aware, the last time Wheel of Fortune was on the GSN schedule was a one-off Black Friday marathon in November 2010 of episodes from 2005-07. It did fairly well, popping a near-700,000 viewer rating for a mid-afternoon episode.

Weren\'t WoF episodes from the 90s airing on GSN right about this time, or was that earlier?

snowpeck · « **Reply #7 on:** March 25, 2013, 05:56:42 AM »

The 1994-1995 season was on sometime in the 2007-2008 range. There\'s always a lot of talk about how GSN used to have full access to the Sony library, but GSN\'s scheduling habits from the past seem to indicate otherwise, at least in some cases. There was never more than two seasons of Wheel on the schedule at a time and the same seasons would repeat ad nauseum, even in GSN\'s early days. Anybody who had GSN when they were running 1992-1993 can attest to that. And if I remember correctly, they only had one season each of Tic Tac Dough and The Joker\'s Wild at a time, which would change yearly (meaning a season would run once, then rerun a while before a new season would come in.)

chad1m · « **Reply #8 on:** March 25, 2013, 06:03:55 AM »

Weren\'t WoF episodes from the 90s airing on GSN right about this time, or was that earlier?

They were gone by January of that year, so episodes had been absent for nearly a year.

Johnissoevil · « **Reply #9 on:** March 25, 2013, 11:06:24 PM »

The 1994-1995 season was on sometime in the 2007-2008 range. There\'s always a lot of talk about how GSN used to have full access to the Sony library, but GSN\'s scheduling habits from the past seem to indicate otherwise, at least in some cases. There was never more than two seasons of Wheel on the schedule at a time and the same seasons would repeat ad nauseum, even in GSN\'s early days. Anybody who had GSN when they were running 1992-1993 can attest to that. And if I remember correctly, they only had one season each of Tic Tac Dough and The Joker\'s Wild at a time, which would change yearly (meaning a season would run once, then rerun a while before a new season would come in.)

GSN did have full access to the Sony-owned shows back when Sony fully owned the network. That changed when Liberty (now DirecTV) purchased a stake in the network in 2000. During the October 1997-April 1998 period (no longer using that all too famous nickname, as that time was anything but), when they didn\'t have the Goodson-Todman shows, everything on the schedule was Sony-owned, save for Feud \'94 and Price.

jage · « **Reply #10 on:** March 28, 2013, 11:50:28 PM »

Interesting how their library has shrunk over time. I\'m hard pressed to think of much of anything they own outright these days outside of their originals. Bring back reruns of the Inquisition? Seriously, I\'m surprised they haven\'t rerun something like Grand Slam on a Sunday or some other time. It has some recognizable faces and many people probably never saw them the first time. That\'s one I\'d watch again, Youtube posts aside, even though I know who won.

PYLdude · « **Reply #11 on:** March 29, 2013, 02:00:31 AM »

Honestly, I\'d even like to see them make a run at something from the \'90s...even the Patrick Wayne sho...I mean TTD 90.

Chelsea Thrasher · « **Reply #12 on:** March 30, 2013, 01:33:57 PM »

GSN did have full access to the Sony-owned shows back when Sony fully owned the network.

[citation needed]. And by citation, I mean something other than \"It\'s something folks always assumed was true.\" I even promoted this one myself once upon a time, but under scrutiny it doesn\'t hold up.

Just looking at what GSN\'s actually aired in the 90s and very early 00s:

I\'ve got at least a couple of episodes from normal WoF and J! airings from each show\'s first season - after the block logo had already debuted (early \'97?). And both shows\' 1992-93 seasons definitely reran for at least a partial second cycle in \'98 before changing over to other seasons.

For the first four years GSN had the show (1997-01), only ~250 episodes from the beginning of $25K Pyramid\'s run aired (the first season with a few skips, plus the first few eps of season two). This leasing model appears to be the model the network went with fully during most of the 2000s.

With rare exception, GSN has almost never run three or seasons of a Sony-owned show consecutively. NG 70s and $100K Pyramid are a couple of rare exceptions, being higher profile and higher rated shows whose total runs clocked out at three seasons.

Most of the Dark Period substitutions were for shows with fairly limited runs (Hot Potato, Go, Chain Reaction, 80s Treasure Hunt, Break the Bank, etc) or extra runs of shows already on the schedule. Plus Price and FF\'94.

The asking price might have been significantly lower through some sort of corporate sibling sweetheart deal - or else network brass just decided to spent more of the money on Sony series in the past.

There isn\'t one iota of evidence (other than long-held opinion) that I\'m aware of to suggest GSN has ever had outright carte blanche access to the Sony back catalog. People probably just started noticing the situation as the leases got noticeably shorter in content and for longer duration around the turn of the previous decade (right around the time Rich Cronin and Bob Boden came in).

clemon79 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 30, 2013, 01:49:55 PM »

after the block logo had already debuted (early \'97?).

Which block logo are you referring to here? \'Cuz I didn\'t have GSN until the last third of \'98, and I *know* when I first had it it was still swirly-ball-Transformers-into-WoF-letters. (Unless that\'s what you\'re referring to.)

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #14 on:** March 30, 2013, 02:09:37 PM »

You can only convert 2 inch videotapes to the digibeta format so fast.

/is digibeta still in use?